Getting comfortable

The Demons work on getting rid of the nerves and getting into shape

By Travis J. Brown, Journal Sports Editor | Mar 08, 2013

Photo by: Travis J. BrownWashington sophomore Jacob Hennigan (right) crosses the second hurdle even with West Burlington-Notre Dame’s Grant Riley (center) and Waukee’s Jared Brdicko (left) during the 60-meter hurdle final at Thursday’s Demon Indoor at the University of Iowa Rec Building in Iowa City. Hennigan took 11th place in the event, crossing the finish line in 9.15 seconds.

IOWA CITY — After not running the high hurdles last spring as a freshman, Washington’s Jacob Hennigan was thrilled to qualify for the finals of the 60-meter hurdles at Thursday’s sixth-annual Demon Indoor.

“I was surprised, to say the least,” said Hennigan, who ran a time of 8.87 seconds to tie for 15th place in the preliminaries. “I definitely didn’t expect that. I was excited.”

And nervous. Even though Hennigan was a member of Washington’s shuttle hurdle relay team that ran at the state track meet last spring, he was nervous to run in front of the packed house at the University of Iowa Rec Building.

“I know he was a nervous wreck,” Washington head coach Steve Roth said. “But for him not high hurdling last year, I thought he handled the pressure really well.”

Roth told Hennigan to relax, and that’s what he tried to do in the finals. He ran a smooth race, and finished 11th in 9.15 seconds.

“I was very nervous,” Hennigan said. “Coach Roth came over and told me to just run relaxed and do like we’d been practicing.”

But Hennigan hadn’t practiced too much on hurdling. Snow on the Case Field track has kept the Demons from practicing outdoors much so far this spring. Luckily, Hennigan had attended a hurdling clinic at the University of Iowa last Sunday.

“I got some experience there,” he said. “I got a little advantage over everybody else. I got my steps down, so it felt a little more natural coming out [of the blocks].”

While Hennigan fell into a groove in the hurdles, the rest of Washington’s runners spent Thursday’s meet trying to get into the swing of the track and field season.

The quartet of Noah Lebsack, Justin Hoffman, Alan Sanchez and Logan Moeller ran both the 4x800 and 4x400 relays, as Roth was trying to get some conditioning for those four athletes. The group finished finished 41st in the 4x400 relay in 3:57.85.

“The 4x400 guys had a good workout, and that’s what we wanted,” Roth said. “They’ll be tired and sore today.”

Sophomore Tommy Peterson finished 26th in the shot put with a throw of 42 feet, 2 inches. Senior Austin Witt, who is out for track for the first time since his freshman year, showed promise in the high jump, clearing 5-6 to tie for 24th place.

Juniors Alex Coker and Carl Sivels came in 39th and 44th in the 60-meter dash, respectively. Coker crossed the finish line in 7.52 seconds, and Sivels was five-hundredths of a second slower.

Sophomore Gage Redlinger finished 43rd in the 200-meter dash in 25.38 seconds. Junior Garrett Covington was 50th in 25.51 seconds, and senior Kyle Roder came in 54th in 25.62 seconds.

Junior Austin Latcham finished 38th in the 800-meter run in 2:23.06.

“I’m very pleased with some of the times,” Roth said. “Some of the guys are right where they were this time last year with no conditioning.”

A record 37 teams attended Thursday’s Demon Indoor. Even with hundreds of athletes competing, the meet still ran smoothly.

“I’d like to thank the Washington staff that helped me on Monday and Thursday,” Roth said. “We couldn’t put on a meet like this — we had 37 teams and were still done by 9:30 — without them.”

Roth is excited for the rest of the track season. And Hennigan is pumped up following his surprising performance on Thursday night.

“It was a nice start,” he said. “I’m very excited. I’m really anxious to get outdoors.”